Monday, July 16, 2012

We hosted lunch at the West Jordan Veterans' Memorial Park for year round new teachers. We had a good turn out, and several people join! Thanks for the help of Executive Board members and ARs who attended. Congratulations to Melanie Durfee, Eastlake, on winning the $25 gift card for those who became new JEA members today.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Thanks to all the JEA members who attended the School Board Meeting last night. We had about 50 people there in blue shirts. All who spoke to the Board were respectful and spoke from their hearts! I was asked to post my comments. If others who spoke have their comments to post here, please do so, or email them to me to add. You can see general summary of comments on the JEA Facebook page.

President Bojak, members of the
Board, Superintendent Johnson, and Mr. Jolley, I stand before you tonight to
express the disappointment felt by members of the Jordan Education Association
regarding the negotiations process chosen by the Board this year.With the election of new school board members
and the appointment of a new superintendent, employees throughout the District
felt calm, happy, and hopeful that morale was turning around.The JEA Negotiations Team was looking forward
to collaboration that Interest-based Bargaining brings.That hope was lost when JEA was informed that
the Board chose to “broker” negotiations by sending an attorney to the
bargaining table.The attorney you chose
is not respected by his colleagues and is not a friend of public education in
general.

As a school
board, you have embraced collaboration and encourage collaboration at all
levels of the District; yet, sending a broker to negotiations prevented
collaboration.As a school board you are
all in support of the Leader in Me program in the elementary schools; yet,
sending a broker, a person who is not invested in the success of students in
the District, made synergy used to reach a win-win situation impossible.As a school board and administration, you
tell teachers how valuable and important they are; yet, teachers do not see
your actions matching your words.If the
end you had in mind was to improve educator morale, you have not succeeded.

JEA members
are very concerned over the language in your proposal that would take away our
right to negotiate policies that impact educator benefits and working
conditions, some of which have been negotiated since 1969.Based on a Dan Jones Survey in 2011, the
public is in favor of teachers having a say in their salary, benefits, and
working conditions.As the president of
JEA, I share these concerns in the hope that mediation will proceed in a more
collaborative manner.

Comments by Heather Reich

My name is Heather Reich.I teach sixth graders at Majestic Elementary and I love my job.The only things I don’t love about the “3 Rs”
are the 3 Ps: Paperwork, Politics, and Pay.

Paperwork – I know you can’t do anything about that.I am learning to manage this as I gain more
experience and knowledge about my profession.

Politics – That’s you.You’re elected officials.You
have to please your constituents.Like
me – I’m your constituent.My students’
parents are your constituents.We want
you to support public education by fairly compensating teachers.Students in Jordan District deserve the best
teachers – highly qualified teachers – not just the most affordable ones.New teachers are working in Jordan District
for three years, benefitting from our Mentoring Program, earning career status
and leaving.That is not what’s best for
our kids and our community.Just as
teachers will leave the district – your voters will leave you if you fail to
invest in experienced and well-educated teachers.

Pay – You can help with this, too.Jordan’s last offer to teachers was a
two-year deal that would fund steps and lanes for one year and not the
next.This means that you have the money
to fund steps and lanes – at least for a year.This year.Offer teachers a
one-year deal.

Please participate in negotiations and do as twenty-two
other districts have done and fund steps and lanes.Let us know you care about students in your
district as much as other districts care about theirs.Invest in experienced teachers who increase
their own education.That’s what’s best
for the kids of Jordan School District.

Comments by Glenda Adams

Dear Board,

I’ve come to speak to you today because I am so
disappointed in your decision to stop open communication with your employees by
bringing in a broker/lawyer to the talks about salary and policy decisions.
How is this going to help build a trusting relationship
with your employees?I believe it will tear apart what has been
building over the last year.

My school has recently been training to implement
the 7 habits of the leader in me within our school. This isn’t a new program but
rather a new way to build lasting habits for life. These habits are to help our
students and us to learn and practice daily tools/habits to put our best efforts
first. It is to teach us how to build deep lasting, highly
effective relationships with other people in our school/workplace and at home.
Habits such as; Seek First to Understand, then to be
Understood, to Think Win-Win and to Synergize by working together for better
solutions.

Your actions to stop open collaborative talk with
your employees are speaking louder than you words and do not show a highly
effective relationships with us. This board along with our new superintendent started to
make positive steps forward with their employees by meeting with us but I’m sad
to say that now your actions will begin crumbling the foundation of our
trust.No one will win, there will be no best efforts to build
upon and working together for better solutions will not be decided
collaboratively.

Please reconsider your decision to communicate with
employees solely through a lawyer/broker.Let’s come to the table to
help all of us work together for better solutions. Let’s all win and be proud
of our “new” “kinder” ‘better and effective’ district that we have been working
on up until now.

Thank you, Glenda Adams

Comments from James Maughan

Board
Members and Superintendent Johnson:

On June
25, teachers in the district received a statement via email describing the
current impasse in negotiations.I would
like to respond to this statement.

It is
true that the JEA rejected your litigating attorney’s tainted offer of lane
increases.The offer was rejected
because teachers refuse to relinquish 30 plus years of negotiated policies that
have improved working conditions for teachers and learning environments for
students.Your attorney’s goal, and I
assume yours, since he is your representative, is to eliminate collective
bargaining for teachers.This is
unacceptable.

The
statement also mentions the unsolicited two percent bonus awarded to teachers
last year.In other words, the board
secretly appropriated a $4 million benefit without consulting the professional
teachers’ association.This was done
strategically.Teachers were not bumped
up on the salary schedule, thereby avoiding future financial obligations, and
the board would appear generous to the public.

I would
also like to clarify the phrase “a substantial salary increase.”We teachers are not asking you to fund
extravagant lifestyles.We are simply
asking you to honor the promises you made when you hired us; if we remained
loyal to the district and provided a quality education for the students, we
would be compensated accordingly.You
have failed.

Finally,
the statement suggests that a choice must be made between providing a quality
education for students and boosting the needs and morale of teachers.The choice is false.We teachers provide the best education we can
with the resources you have provided, and will continue to do so.However, if you cannot provide competitive
financial compensation, highly effective teachers will seek positions with
other districts.Ultimately, the
families in the Jordan School District will suffer.

You,
Jordan School Board must provide resources for recruiting and retaining
excellent teachers, and thus a quality education for the students.

I have just
publicly reprimanded and criticized you.I now invite you to visit my classroom – any day, any period, and let me
know how I am performing.

Thank
you.

Comments by Robin Frodge

Good evening Board, Superintendent, and Mr. Jolley.

My name is Robin Frodge, and I am a Special Education teacher at West
Jordan High School.

I was very disappointed in my school district when I heard that even
though Jordan's nighboring districts were offering steps, lanes, and COLAs,
Jordan was not making a similar offer to its employees.

I do not know why the School Board didn't direct the District Office to
prepare a budget that included funding for employee salary increases similar to
other school districts'. That is a major piece of how we will restore employee
morale and ensure quality schools for Jordan District students.

I encourage the Board at this point to quickly move toward a positive
resolution of negotiations with your employees.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

This is the day we stay until all business is done. We approved committee reports and resolutions. We finished all 89 new business items by passing (requires action by NEA), by defeating (no action), by referring (to committee for study), or by not considering (usually outside the education realm). Details have been posted on the JEA Facebook page. We also discussed and approved the strategic plan and budget, which has been cut significantly, for the next two years.
President Obama could not be in attendance, so he called in to speak to us. His best quote was, "You can't help Americans without helping education."
Melissa and Mallory both won In Your Seat drawings. The Jordan UniServ met the goal of raising $180 each for the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education.

We moved through many new business items. See the JEA Facebook page for details.
We heard Judy Near, ESP of the Year from Colorado, speak. She talked about being told "Any monkey can do your job." She lead in her district to organize the ESP's into an association. She said, "Our solidarity is not for sale and never will be!" We need to stand together now more than ever.
NEA Executive Director John Stocks spoke. He spoke about stopping racial profiling in schools. He said, "We cannot have a truly free America until we have a just America."
The NEA choir sang three songs as part of the Independence Day celebration.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

VP Joe Biden spoke to us first thing and he was introduced by his wife, Dr. Jill Biden. He gave a great speech about the importance of public education and recognizing what we, as teachers, do. I posted some of his comments on the JEA Facebook page. The main idea was that there are just different approaches to helping public education.
We covered a lot of new business items. In addition, there was a panel who talked about programs in their locals that are helping raise the bar for entry into the profession. Summaries of their comments are also posted on the JEA Facebook page.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

The first day of the RA, we heard from NEA President Dennis Van Roekel. You can read his remarks at www.nea.org/home/52399.htm
We heard VP Lily Eskelsen speak about the importance of the NEA Fund for Children and Public Education.
We voted on standing rules and heard debate on constitutional amendments.
There wil be more business each day. VP Joe Biden is speaking on the second day.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

I attended the NEA Human and Civil Rights Awards Banquet this evening. It is an inspiring night honoring people and groups from around the country who have forwarded the ideals of human and civil rights and social justice. The stories are amazing! It was most inspiring to hear the wife of the late Reverend Abernathy, who helped Martin Luther King in Montgomery, speak about her memories of Rosa Parks, the bus boycott that lasted 381 days (one day then one week at a time), and how the white women who had black help wanted the boycott to end so they didn't have to go pick up their help anymore.
One winner works with his students to foster international understanding. Another works to educate the public about the Underground Railroad, which his ancestors traveled to freedom. A teacher in California works with dual enrollment and working with parents of immigrant students. An attorney helps immigrants work toward becoming naturalized citizens. A couple of winners helped minorities and alternative high school students see the value of and their ability to attend college. A 14 year old student, who is gay, defended one of his teachers who asked a student to leave class for making an anti-gay remark. These are just a few of the amazing stories we learned about.
If you know of a person or group that is making a difference in human and civil rights and social justice for disadvantaged groups, I would love to help you nominate them for one of these awards for next year.

Mallory Meyer, Debbie Brown, Melissa Brown,and I are in Washington DC for the annual NEA-RA. We have attended Utah caucus meetings the last two days. We registered and visited the exhibit hall. Today was a day of learning. I attended a session on raising the bar for entry into the profession and possibly adding a residency. NEA is going to work with some universities to start pilot residency programs. General business meetings run July 2-5. I will updateas the days progress.